Posts tagged "depression"

Yesterday, Facebook announced new measures to help users who might be at risk for self-harm. It’s become too common that we hear stories about Facebook users who speak to their distress and end up hurting themselves or worse, and in the meantime, their friends don’t know what to do. Facebook’s new…

More than 40 percent of high school-aged girls in England report being coerced into sex. [The Guardian] A memo to Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions: Judges who disagree with you aren’t “activist” judges. [Vox] A new study shows that there are long-term health benefits for LGBT youth who come out during high school. […

When it started, I thought it was just a stomach thing. I had probably unwittingly eaten some dairy, my usual digestive foe. But the mild nausea showed no signs of letting up. Two weeks, then three. I couldn't ignore it anymore. It had gone from a minor inconvenience to an omnipresent feeling, lurking deep dow…

Today in Conclusions That Could Have Been Reached After A 10-Minute Phoner With Me As Opposed To An Exhaustive Study! A study from the University of Texas has found that people who struggle with loneliness and depression are more likely to binge-watch television than their peers because it provides an escape from their…

"I wanted to share that side of my story, because I know there are so many other people out there that have gone through things like that, and you always feel like you’re the only one going through that. You walk out the door, and you see someone you know, and they ask you how…

There’s a new app out called Samaritans Radar, offered by UK mental health charity Samaritans, that allows users to sign up to have their friends’ Twitter accounts monitored for words and phrases like “suicide,” “tired of being alone,” “hate myself, “depressed,” and “help me.” The app then sends the user a notification so…

Lucca is a little bit jealous of my loom. I can’t even start to explain why I love weaving so much without first explaining, as best I can, what it feels like to have an ADD brain. While I think I would still love weaving even if I didn’t have attentio…

Oh thank goodness, someone finally says that mindfulness practice isn’t for everyone. Neuroscientist Catherine Kerr studies the effects of mindfulness practice on the brain, and is a practitioner herself, but denies that it is the emotional and scientific wonderdrug it’s been made out to be. Kerr was an author on a 2005 paper that…

I've had anxiety and depression for years, long before I started therapy and began taking medication under the advisement of a psychiatrist. I look back at my teenage and college years and see glaring signs that I was unhappy but didn't know how to put it into words that anyone, including myself, could understand. Mental…

The results of a UK study on depression and exercise show that it’s possible that exercise is as effective for treating depression as therapy or medication. The researchers caution, of course, that better studies need to be done to come to a conclusion. But cool! Maybe that’s one of the reasons we get depressed…

Ever since I heard about Robin Williams' devastating suicide, I've been thinking about this post and how I was going to write it. I've thought about it as I was drifting off to sleep. What did I want to say? How did I want to say it? Would it come out right? Would…

Selfish (adj.): Lacking concern for others; concerned chiefly with one’s own personal profit or pleasure. Death is not profitable or pleasurable. It’s just nothing. It’s just not suffering. It has nothing to do with benefiting or not benefiting oneself or others. Saying that someone was selfish for having committed suicide is like saying that it…

Deleting your Twitter is the best thing you could've done, but I hope this letter still finds you. Dear Zelda, When I heard the news, I thought of you. I realize that no amount of consolation or sympathy will make it easier to grieve. But I want you to know that I know what you're going…

I have struggled with depression and suicidal ideation for years. My darkest period was as recent as 2013. In fact, there was a day last September when I let my guard down for just a few minutes. It was enough time for me to walk into my kitchen, pick up a large knife, and touch…

Absolutley heartbreaking news to report this evening: actor Robin Williams, 63, was found dead this morning at his home in Marin County, California. The reported cause of death is axphyxia, and police are treating it as a suicide. Williams had struggled with depression and drug addiction off and on for years. His publicist Mara Buxbaum…

Clinical depression sucks and it’s only growing more common. Almost one in two people in the U.S. will suffer from depression or another mental health condition at some point and about one in 17 Americans actually has a serious mental illness right now. Despite its rising rates, depression can be hard to wra…

There's often nothing more isolating than being told to "cheer up" or "it's not so bad" when in the throes of a rough patch. Even when it's clear that a shift in perspective or a perkier outlook could make a situation seem better, it's not always possible to just flip an internal switch and suddenly…

I remember my first panic attack in more detail than I remember losing my virginity or the first time I drove a car by myself. (I guess vivid terror of suddenly not being able to breathe really ingrains itself into your psyche.) It was 1998 and I was watching the "Psycho" remake with my family'…

When Alyssa Funke of Minnesota was 18, she filmed an amateur porn for a site called CastingCouch-X, which features "Fresh New Amateur Girl Porn Videos." In March, the porno was posted online. At some point thereafter, says her family, former classmates at Stillwater Area High School began harassing Alyssa over social media,…

Simply Irresistible

Taking a page out of those girls you went to high school with who can't stop smugly posting every detail of their perfect lives on Facebook, Lady Gaga shaded America's youngest grandma Taylor Swift just perfectly on Twitter yesterday. It all started when Jaime King's unborn child's godmother tweeted about Gaga, using the preferred…

Oh look, it's hottest DILF alive, Ryan Gosling, making a rare appearance in public grabbing lunch in LA today. And what's that I see? In addition to his perfectly worn T-shirt (that collar is stretched just so), hoodie and leather jacket, the Gos is rocking a few faint letters on his knuckles, spelling out the…